Outside Edge Review
But then time stands still on the village green, where generation after generation of fiercely competitive gents have been living out their sporting fantasies for hundreds of years - and will continue to do so for as long as their forgiving wives agree to make the tea.
As the setting for a gentle satire of aspirational Middle England-types, it’s as sound as a well-rolled wicket - although the play is less concerned with the actual thwack of leather on willow than the off-pitch interaction between the bedhopping batsmen and their jealous other halves.
And with a superb ensemble cast – cricket is a team game, after all – impressive set and impeccable direction, Harlow Theatre Company’s rip-roaring production brought these volatile relationships vividly - and hilariously - to life.
The focus never strayed too far from officious club captain Roger (played with masterful timing and bumbling brilliance by Richard Parsley), a bundle of nervous energy desperately trying to hold his easily distracted teammates together ahead of a crunch match against their sworn enemies.
But even his whiter-than-whites marriage to prim-and-proper housewife Miriam (a sparkling - if all-too-rare - turn from Jane Prangnell) is sullied by shock revelations of the increasingly frazzled captain playing away from home in Dorking.
But theirs isn’t the only marriage on the rocks – acid-tongued ice maiden Ginnie (an ice-cool Catherine Petherpridge) is also convinced that her hubby, boozy all-rounder Bob (an assured performance by Steve Hannam), is up to his old tricks as slimy, would-be womaniser Dennis (a solid first HTC performance from newcomer Mike Hughes) helps stir the pot.
In fact, it’s only diminutive spin-bowler Kevin (a cheeky, chirpy Kyle Jaggers) and his domineering wife Maggie (a show-stealing turn from the talented Amanda Bailey) who seem happy, and it’s their bawdy banter and topsy-turvy relationship that provide the biggest laughs of the evening.
The comedy may have been straightforward and the script none-too taxing, but with such strong performances and direction it was impossible not to be bowled over by yet another high-scoring HTC production.